This is not DOM 101. Before trying to learn and applying these concepts, you’ll be best served nailing down the basics. YouTube is a great resource to search up the basics of the DOM.

What’s On My DOM?

Everyone’s going to have their own personal preference as to what inputs they have on their DOM. Some only use resting orders, some use a bunch of other things — like myself.

My inputs are:

• Resting Bid/Ask (Limit Orders)

• Pull/Stack

• Recent Bid/Ask (Market Orders)

• Delta By Price

• Volume Profile

Pull/Stack

This shows me the passive intention/interest of each side. Reloading (stacking) orders is only one part of the picture. Do they ever show willingness to step up/down with price? Do they defend and reload back into those prices as the market pulls back into them? There is a difference between passive activity vs. initiative activity. I note the passive activity, and initiate with the initiative activity.

Recent Bid/Ask

The recent bid/ask shows me effort and aggression in the market. These are market orders, which means participants are crossing the spread to hit those prices. This would be classified as initiative activity. This is my direct measure of hands being shown. Once again, the fractal nature of my process and strategy comes into play.

• When do the participants that are driving the market stop being rewarded?

• Have they stopped seeing forward progress?

• At that point, where does the initiative activity step off (taper)?

• Do they start to lose traction and get offsides? Does the market begin to trade against them?

• If so, does the counterparty begin to initiate against them?

Entry and Risk

I prefer to enter at prices within tapers, or within the range that is holding against potentially offside participants. The side that I am looking to trade against — the participants who are unable to make forward progress, would be my risk.

Delta By Price

I utilize the delta by price as a historical reference of orderflow that precedes or leads to a directional move. My recent bid/ask prints reset every 10 seconds that price moves away and comes back, which at that point, will give me a new print. I also use a hotkey to manually reset the prints from time to time. By having the delta by price still present, I don’t have to worry about not having any prior orderflow references on my DOM — I can see it at a quick glance.

Developing Intuition (Vibes)

Make no mistake — there are no shortcuts to developing real proficiency with the DOM. However, there are ways to be more efficient in learning it. The harsh reality is that, when it comes to the DOM, there really is no substitute for screen time. You can, however, cut down the useless screen time and focus on more useful screen time through replay. Here’s how I did it:

Take note of key market sequences. Reference the location and timestamp. Go back and obsessively replay those sequences over and over. Through time, you will begin to develop your pattern recognition. Such things can be:

• What kind of orderflow tends to actually produce results? What kind tends to be largely useless or non-actionable?

• What are the key signatures and components of certain market interactions and outcomes?

• What kind of orderflow tends to lead to a breakout?

• What about a failed break?

• What does a fading tape look like?

• What are my tells that a participant is likely to be stuck and ran against?

With enough time on the DOM, you’ll certainly begin to feel the vibes. This is where you can truly become one with the tape.